After dominating Smith in the first frame, Falk chose the down position, which in hindsight was the wrong decision.
Smith, ranked 16th nationally, rode Falk, breaking him and eventually pinning the freshman at a time of 4:34 to give the Lions a 6-0 lead.
"It's kind of funny -- today I was looking online and I saw the quote 'You know, I really don't like being on bottom and I've been having a lot of trouble there,' " Smith said after the meet. "I looked at my roommate and said 'I think we have something here.' "
The Lions did not feed off the momentum. No. 19 Brian Heller at 133 pounds fell in a close match that came down to a single point that Sunderland saw as a lost opportunity for his freshman.
"I felt like there was a point there before he got taken down he had the opportunity to get the takedown," Sunderland said. "The kid seemed tired on his feet and I feel like if he pulls the trigger and takes him down, he wins the match. I feel like he was ready to quit."
But thanks to Smith, the Lions still held a 6-3 lead going into No. 12 DeWitt Driscoll's match at 141 pounds against Alex Tsirtsis with the Lions feeling they were still in the driver's seat.
"When [Smith] hit the fall I was thinking secretly, 'This is better than where we wanted to be,' " Sunderland said. "After Heller lost I thought we're still OK. We'll let Driscoll wrestle his match."
Driscoll, trailing most of the bout, was down two points in the third period. Then Tsirtsis got penalized for stalling, and Driscoll needed to continue to ride him to take it to overtime.
After time expired, Driscoll looked up to see 1:01 on the riding time. With the momentum heading into sudden death, he couldn't capitalize and lost on a takedown.
Sunderland wasn't pleased as Driscoll's overtime woes continued.
"He's had three or four or more losses in overtime by waiting and not being aggressive," Sunderland said. "That's not his style. His style is not to stand around. He's got to have that mindset that offense wins in overtime. I'd rather see him lose in overtime being offensive than winning standing around and scoring off their shot."
Freshman Jack Decker continued to struggle, losing to No. 5 Ty Eustice by a technical fall.
In the most disappointing match of the evening, No. 18 Nathan Galloway fell 23-10 to No. 8 Joe Johnston.
At this point, the two teams headed to the lockers, where Sunderland ripped into his team, Galloway in particular.
"I feel like these guys weren't really ready to wrestle," Smith said. "Then we go around back after Galloway's match and it's pretty embarrassing."
"I'm disappointed in Nathan's effort. I know he is," Sunderland said. "That's something that can't happen here in your home gym."
Coming back out, they didn't get the boost they were looking for as senior Jarrad Turner got pinned in the first period, putting the Lions into a 20-6 hole.
An unexpected catalyst emerged at 174 pounds. Sophomore James Yonushonis earned a major decision, bringing the score to 20-10.
Then the score didn't matter because at 184 pounds it was time for the battle of the Bradleys. No. 5 Eric Bradley of Penn State took on No. 9 Paul Bradley. After a scoreless first period, Eric Bradley got on the board by earning an escape at the start of the second.
With the score tied at 1-1 Eric Bradley got the decisive takedown in the third to win the bout 3-2.
But the long-shot Lion comeback did not happen as the Lions fell.
The theme at the end of the night was the theme of the season: the whole team wasn't ready.
"Some guys wrestled with their hearts in their sleeves and gave everything they have and just got beat," Sunderland said. "Other guys had it in their grasp and had it slip away and other guys just weren't ready to step on the mat. And you can't not be ready to step on the mat, especially against Iowa. I don't understand it."
Penn State's Phil Davis (back) attempts to turn Iowa's Dane Pape (front) at Rec Hall. Davis won his match 8-2, but the Hawkeyes held off the Lions, 23-16.
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